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Rhiar Selik
Rhiar Selik (Trusted Friend in Elvish) is an elven cleric, the High Priest of Ikenga, one of the Heroes of Valinor and one of the four bearers of the Vulture's Egg. Background Born to Ashiir Selik (Willing Friend in Elvish), a poor prostitute in the dune city of Emet, Rhiar was raised amid a company of whores and lowborn scoundrels until his mother died during his early teenage years. With no real prospects in Emet, Rhiar migrated to the nearby city of Capris, attempting to find his absentee father, a sailor by the name of Rhiargo Espiridion. His father, initially underwhelmed by the prospect of a bastard son, eventually warmed to him as he displayed much skill as a sailor and a deviousness that bordered on the piratical. He sailed with his father for two years before returning to the port of Capris for some much deserved shore leave. Upon returning to Rhiargo's berth, Rhiar found no sign of the ship or its crew. Disheartened and abandoned, Rhiar quickly fell in with a band of thieves and learned the tools of their trade, making a name for himself in the Caprissian underworld and attracting the attention of an Ikengan priest who sought to recruit him. Seeking power and a sense of purpose, Rhiar readily joined and proved a devout follower, with an eagerness for treachery and guile. Rhiar sailed to many ports, performing deeds in service to Ikenga and spreading the word where he could, though always cautious to avoid attracting undue attention. Eventually, Rhiar joined a travelling circus as a fortune teller, swindling people out of their gold and obtaining secrets for occasional blackmail, until the circus came to Civitas Emeritae. Rhiar's Story Initially recruited to the party by the Tyrian priest Cragnon, who forced him to accompany the amulet bearers under threat of death. While initially reluctant to join them, Rhiar soon found purpose when Ikenga appeared to him in a dream and commanded him to keep the amulet safe. Rhiar was instrumental to the retaking of one of the Seven Gates, using his shapeshifting to take the form of an orcish leader and commanding the ranking orc to defenestrate himself, sending the other orcs running into the forest. Heading to the Karkarnis mountains, Rhiar located the mythical Cacogen who attempted to trick the party into releasing it. Instead, Rhiar and the group attempted to destroy the Cacogen with a magical pickaxe. The Cacogen was subdued, though not destroyed, and the group were able to leave after receiving a doom-filled prophecy regarding Vidar and Muiritheme. Again using shapeshifting and deception, Rhiar dispatched with Sylvio Thundershins' bandits so that Thundershins could be captured and questioned about his desire for the amulet. Upon returning to find the city of Civitas Emeritae destroyed, Rhiar devised a cunning plan to retake the city and defeat the cyclops Polyphemus. Rhiar also lead the group to find a missing child who had wandered into the cave of a wight. Though he nearly drowned, Rhiar assisted in defeating the wight and obtained a cursed sword which struck him with a terrible illness. The curse was removed by a priest in Gondolind, where the party convinced the town's governor to house the refugees from Civitas Emeritae, and then met with Prince Alexander, who welcomed them as heroes before he betrayed and arrested them under orders of Adolfus Truthspeaker. After determining the Vulture's Egg had been stolen by Rolf, Alexander released the group to retrieve it. Upon their release, Alexander gifted Rhiar with his magical scabbard, later revealed as a means to locate the group in case of trouble. Heading north to Madrigal, the group located Rolf only to find the city on lockdown. In a display of foolish honesty, Vidar surrended himself to the guards. Only through the cunning and brilliance of Rhiar disguising himself as Prince Alexander was the amulet retrieved and Vidar freed. Beating a hasty retreat south, the group headed for the Karkarnis mountains to seek the aid of the mountain dwarves. Controlled by the evil dragon Vermishank, the dwarven city of Ungorim was in disarray. Rhiar impersonated King Craykor, Breaker of All Shields to rally the dwarven people and unite them against Vermishank. Rhiar was the only one to receive a prize from the Hall of Champions. After defeating the Cacogen in a battle of riddles, Rhiar was gifted with the Orb of Possibilities. Rhiar assisted the group in the battle with Vermishank, taking flight for the first time and helping Salvatore and Craykor reach the dragon. In the aftermath of the battle, Rhiar performed a completely justified mercy killing on the dying King Craykor, allowing the wise Alcarr to ascend to the throne as the new king of Ungorim. After the defeat of Vermishank, Rhiar was rewarded with a cloak made from the scales of the dragon, allowing him to grow wings and fly at will. Rhiar also procured copious amounts of gold, a magical model ship which could grow to regular size, a curved elven blade, and a silver statue which allowed him to commune with the gods. Taking his new ship, Rhiar and the group headed to Cassardis, hoping to set sail and find a place to spend their newfound wealth. Faced with a horde of orcs, displacer beasts and a fetch, the group emerged victorious. In the interests of pragmatism, Rhiar cleverly cut off the hands and tongue of Rolf, so that he would pose less of a threat to the group. Setting sail with a crew of skeletal sailors, the group initially decided to head to Tor Gallant and fight the Leviathan, but after hearing news from Phobos, court wizard of Varsia, the group instead decided to head to Rivallon and defuse the tension between Adolfus Truthspeaker and King Metaxis. Devising his most devious and brilliant plan yet, Rhiar contacted Adolfus using a portrait of himself, several teleport spells and his legendary cunning. Instead of being arrested and tortured, the silver tongued elf convinced Adolfus to pardon them of all crimes and form a council to discuss the destruction of the Vulture's Egg. Welcomed into the city of Rivallon, Rhiar and the group assisted the Arcanists Guild by infiltrating the Pygmy Fortress and killing the necromancer Zathras with the help of Inglix Kinkiller, also freeing the Hammerfist family in the process. Though chased by Gem the Druid, her earth elemental and a throng of angry mercenaries after their mission was revealed by a prisoner, Rhiar managed to slow and eventually banish the earth elemental and sail the group back to Rivellon. By channeling the power of Ikenga and raising a column of water from the ocean, Rhiar was able to put out the Great Fire of Rivallon and save the city, though that would only be the prelude to his great deeds on that day. Contacting the mages of Rivallon and devising a plan, Rhiar and the group teleported near The Eidolon and flew to it, After exchanging words with a possessed and corrupted Phineas who led Vidar on a chase through the bowels of the ship, Rhiar and Salvatore courageously sank through the ship's liquid metal decking, entombing themselves within the metallic embrace of the ship. Only through Rhiar's winning personality and quick thinking was he able to convince the Eidolon to release them, allowing them to subdue Phineas and obtain the ship's control rod. Nurturing their special bond, Rhiar conversed with the ship and educated it about the world. The two grew close on the journey back to Rivallon, closer than a man and ship had any right to be, but tragedy struck and interrupted their burgeoning relationship when Grand Mechanist Hamcrusher demanded the control rod from Rhiar under threat of death. Reluctantly, Rhiar handed over the control rod and Hamcrusher vowed to erase the Eidolon's sentience. In one last desperate attempt to save the ship's fledgling intelligence, Rhiar informed Fontaine about the situation, who promptly disappeared to battle Hamcrusher under mysterious circumstances. Rhiar and the group then met the alleged Heroes of Tor Gallant, who embarrased themselves in a match of wits and fists. Of important historical note is the insult widely regarded as the most severe of all time, when Rhiar wittily described Maedhros Kurufinway as 'Cindar-ella', a barb so sharp that the elven prince instantly lost his composure and attempted to punch Rhiar in his devilishly handsome face. After thoroughly defeating the Heroes of Tor Gallant in an arena battle, wherein Rhiar's magical ability proved so strong that he confused Maedhros to the point of suicide, the Council of the Amulet was called, which both parties attended. The Council was almost entirely unhelpful, and largely uneventful with the exception of a surprise visit from Mirolai (The Deceiver). A course of action was decided; The Heroes of Tor Gallant would head to Muirithemne to speak with the head of the Trow Dravidian. Meanwhile, Rhiar and the group would head to Miranon to seek the Great Library of Miranon and to perhaps speak with the dead god Oghma. Upon arriving at Miranon, the group explored the tower from the top down, and destroyed several liches before entering the Library. Striking an accord with the Librarian and convincing him to aid them, Rhiar instigated the capture and subsequent conversion of the lich Fedict. Rhiar acquired the puzzle box of Zandalor, an almost impossible puzzle which was beyond the ability of the greatest minds of Amaroth. The group explored the tower, dispelling traps with a mote of disjunction and convincing the Bleak Ones to aid them in taking on the Trow that guarded The Architect. With great difficulty, the group dispatched the Trow, discovered the journal of Turgon, and confronted the Architect. The Architect, controlling the minds of both Salvatore and Rhiar, made quick work of Fink Morningtide and trapped Vidar in a maze. By the heavy hand of fate, the Architect was vanquished by the mote of disjunction and the timely reappearance of Vidar, but at great cost to the group, and it was then revealed that this was only a facsimile and the Architect had left hours ago. The group interrogated a Trow guardian, arranged for the delivery of many souls to the garden of Ikenga, and used a portal to revisit the library before heading to the God Cage to visit Oghma. Inside the God Cage, it was revealed that Oghma had been transformed by Sion (who was once known as Turgon, the son of Oghma) into the Cacogen, an evil shadow of his former self. Rhiar met Lirael and convinced her to part with the location of the Dream of Whispers, she also revealed the identity and origin of the Dream Walker, a man once known as Gwyneth who had been warped by Lirael's improper use of the Dream. Rhiar also cunningly negotiated a bargain with the Cacogen to learn how to destroy the Vulture's Egg, which can only be destroyed with the blood of Sion. Upon leaving the God Cage, the group was ambushed by an army of undead, fetches and a dragon, led by the Architect. With no other options, Rhiar unleashed the Dream of Dispersal in a gruelling battle which utterly destroyed the massing army and presumably killed the Architect. Having recovered from the toll taken by the Dream, Rhiar led the group through the Plane of Fire to find the Eidolon and Fontaine, who had been vacationing in the realm of Tyr, the Plane of Elysium. Rhiar convinced the Eidolon to travel to the Library so that Fontaine could fulfil his long-standing promise to craft powerful weapons and armour for the group, including a robe and staff for Rhiar. While recuperating in the Library, Rhiar received a message from his god, Ikenga. Ikenga informed him of dissent among the ranks of Ikengan priests, led by rogue priest Iscaral Pust, and promoted Rhiar to the High Priest of Ikenga. With this promotion came new secrets and information, including knowledge about the natural order, the cycle of time, Sion's summoning of the Grotesques and the revelation that due to Sion's onslaught, the powers of the gods had been significantly diminished. Rhiar also convinced Ikenga to decode the ciphered journal of Turgon, which would hopefully shed more light on Sion's origin and his plans. Rhiar's communion was interrupted, however, by news that the Watchwall had been breached by the forces of The Watcher, so the group took the Eidolon and went to help defend the wall. However, The Deceiver appeared to warn them that in order to kill The Watcher, they must retrieve his severed arm from the crevasse at Sarn Dagor, The Cliffs of Insanity, and use it as a weapon to slay him. Category:Player Characters Category:Characters